Razor blade tool

ABSTRACT

A RAZOR BLADE TOOL HAVING A FLAT SHEATH-LIKE HANDLE CONTAINING A BLADE HOLDER IN THE FORM OF A FLAT SLIDE WITH A SPARE BLADE HOLDING MEANS BETWEEN ITS ENDS AND CUTTTING BLADE HOLDING MEANS AT ITS ENDS FOR RECEIVING RAZOR BLADES IN POSITIONS WHEREIN ONE CUTTING BLADE HAS ITS CUTTING BLADE EXTENDING LENGTHWISE OF THE SLIDE AND AN EXPOSED CUTTING CORNER AT ONE END OF THE SLIDE AND THE OTHER CUTTING BLADE HAS ITS CUTTING EDGE EXTENDING CROSSWISE OF AND EXPOSED BEYOND THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SLIDE. THE SLIDE IS MOVABLE LONGITUDINALLY OF THE HANDLE TO LOCATE EITHER BLADE IN CUTTING POSITION BEYOND THE ADJACENT END OF THE HANDLE AND TO LOCATE THE BLADE WITH THE EXPOSED CUTTING CORNER IN SHEATHED RELATION WITHIN THE HANDLE. RESILIENT LATCHING DETENTS ON THE SLIDE RELESABLY LOCK THE SLIDE AGAINST MOVEMENT FROM THE LATTER BLADE SHEATING POSITION.

NOV. 23, 1971 K E ET AL RAZOR BLADE TOOL Filed May 22, 1970 FIG. 1.

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0v VEA/TORE. A RTHUR A 0 A TTORA/EY United States Patent O RAZOR BLADETOOL Arthur Kolde, 896 Collingwood Drive, Pomona, Calif. 91766; RobertJ. Ferjo, 14055 E. lLomitas, La Puente, Calif. 91746; and Kenneth M.Ferjo, 1201 Riderwood Ave., Hacienda Heights, Calif. 91745 Filed May 22,1970, Ser. No. 39,711 Int. Cl. 1826b 1/08 U.S. Cl. 30-162 4 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A razor blade tool having a flat sheath-likehandle containing a blade holder in the form of a flat slide with aspare blade holding means between its ends and cutting blade holdingmeans at its ends for receiving razor blades in positions wherein onecutting blade has its cutting edge extending lengthwise of the slide andan exposed cutting corner at one end of the slide and the other cuttingblade has its cutting edge extending crosswise of and exposed beyond theopposite end of the slide. The slide is movable longitudinally of thehandle to locate either blade in cutting position beyond the adjacentend of the handle and to locate the blade with the exposed cuttingcorner in sheathed relation within the handle. Resilient latchingdetents on the slide releasably lock the slide against movement from thelatter blade sheathing position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates generally to cutting tools and more particularly to a novelrazor blade tool.

Prior art Pat. No. 2,464,408 discloses a razor blade tool having asheath-like handle containing a blade holder in the form of flat slidewith blade holding means at one end for receiving a safety razor blade.When positioned in the blade holding means, the razor blade has itscutting edge extending lengthwise of the slide and an exposed cuttingcorner at the end of the slide. The blade holder is movable lengthwiserelative to the handle between a retracted position of storage whereinthe razor blade is retracted to sheathed relation within the handle andan extended position of use wherein the blade is located beyond thehandle for cutting contact of its exposed cutting corner with a workpiece. The patented tool is useful for opening cardboard cartons and thelike.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present razor blade tool is an improvementon the tool of the above mentioned patent and like many existing razorblade tools has a slide with blade holding means at both ends. One bladeholding means receives a razor blade in a position wherein its cuttingedge extends lengthwise of the slide and a cutting corner of the bladeis exposed at the end of the slide as in the patented tool. The slide ismovable relative to the handle between an extended position wherein theblade is located beyond the handle for contact of its exposed cuttingcorner with a work piece and a retracted position wherein the blade isretracted into sheathed relation within the handle. According to onefeature of the invention, resilient detents on the slide lock the latteragainst extension from its retracted position and are depressible byfinger pressure to release the slide for extension. The other bladeholding means on the slide receives a razor blade in position whereinits cutting edge extends transversely of the slide beyond the adjacentend of the slide.

According to another feature of the invention, the

3,621,570 Patented Nov. 23, 1971 "ice BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFIG. 1 is a side elevation of a present razor blade tool with the bladeholder in one cutting position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 with the blade holder retracted tolocate the razor blade in sheathed relation within the tool handle;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the tool with a second razor blade mountedon the blade holder and the latter extended to locate the blade incutting position;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the tool;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The illustrated razor blade tool10 has a fiat sheathlike handle 12 containing a blade holder 14- in theform of a fi-at slide with blade holding means 18, 20 at its ends and acenter spare blade holding means 22. Handle 12 comprises a fiat sleevewhich may be fabricated of various materials and by various formingtechniques. According to the preferred practice of the invention,however, the handle is fabricated from a suitable plastic, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by an extrusion process. The handle has relativewide and flat side walls 24 joined along their longitudinal edges bynarrow edge walls 26.

The blade holder 14, like the handle 12, may be fabricated of variousmaterials and various forming techniques. The illustrated holder isformed from a strip of sheet metal which is bent back on itself into agenerally U- shape to form the flat holder slide. This slide has spacedparallel side walls or portions 28 joined at one end, i.e. the endadjacent the blade holding means 18, by a connecting portion 30. Theopposite ends of the side portions 28 are spot welded at 32.

The side walls or portions 28 of the blade holder 14 are spaced toprovide a narrow intervening slot 34 which defines both the bladeholding means 18 and the spare blade holding means 22. This slot isdimensioned in width to receive with a relatively snug sliding fit twosafety razor blades 36, 38 in end to end relation, as shown. The upperlongitudinal edges 40 of the blade holder are recessed to accommodatethe enlarged reinforcing backs 42 on the blades and provide upstandingstops 43 along these edges for positioning the blades endwise. As shownin FIGS. 4 and 5, the lower shoulder edges 44 of the blade backs rest onthe recessed upper holder edges 40.

The portion of the blade holder slot 34 adjacent the left end of theblade holder 14 constitutes the blade holding means 18, and the blade 36which is contained within this holding means constitutes a cuttingblade. As shown in FIG. 4, the connecting portion 30 and stops 43 arespaced lengthwise of the blade holder 14 to restrain the cutting bladeagainst endwise movement. The spare blade 38 is restrained againstendwise movement by the stops 43 and shoulders 46 on the blade holder atthe right end of the blade.

The blade holding means 18 22 receive the razor blades 36, 38 inpositions wherein their lower cutting edges extend lengthwise of theblade holder 14 and are contained within the holder slot 34. The lowerlongitudinal edges of the blade holder are beveled at 48 to expose theadjacent cutting corner 50 of the cutting blade 36.

The right hand extremities of the blade holder side walls or portions 28are shaped to define a second slot 52 which exends crosswise of theholder and constitutes the blade holding means 20. Slot 52 has anenlarged portion 54 for receiving the back 42 of a safety razor blade 56which serves as a second cutting blade and a narrow portion 58 openingthrough the end of the blade holder for receiving the thin blade portionproper of the blade. Slot 52 is dimensioned to receive the cutting blade56 with a snug gripping fit. In this regard, it will be understood thatthe.

adjacent end portions of the blade holder 14 which define the slot 52are laterally resilient to provide a blade gripping action.

Blade holder 14 is movable endwise between its position of FIG. 1 andits position of FIGS. 2-4. In the position of FIG. 1, the cutting blade36 is extended to cutting position beyond the tool handle 12 and thecutting blade 56 is retracted toward the handle. In the position ofFIGS. 2-4, the cutting blade 36 is retracted into sheathed relationwithin the handle and the cutting blade 56 is extended to cutting orscraping position beyond the handle. In each position, the spare blade38 is sheathed within the handle. The cutting blade 36 and spare blade38 are inserted and removed by sliding the blade holder 14 from thehandle.

According to a feature of the invention, the blade holder 14 is equippedwith resilient tongues or detents 60 which are biassed outwardly totheir positions of FIG. 6 to engage the adjacent end of the handle 12and thereby prevent extension of the holder to its position of FIG. 1.These detents comprise flaps which are punched out from the side wallsor portions 28 of the holder. The flaps are depressible by fingerpressure into the fi'ap openings in the blade holder to release thelatter for extension to its position of FIG. 1. According to anotherfeature, the edges and one side of the tool handle 12 are indented at62, 64 to provide within the handle protrusions which bear yieldablyagainst the blade holder 14 to frictionally retain the latter againstmovement.

The inventors claim:

1. A razor blade tool comprising:

a sheath-like handle in the form of a flat sleeve having relatively wideside walls joined along their horizontal edges by relatively narrow edgewalls and open ends,

a blade holder slidable longitudinally in said handle and comprising aflat slide having spaced side walls joined at said one holder end by anend wall and defining an intervening razor blade receiving slot adaptedto receive a safety razor blade with a rein forcing rib edge first to aposition wherein the blade edge extends lengthwise of said holder, saidholder side walls being recessed along one horizontal edge toaccommodate said blade reinforcing rib and beveled along their oppositelongitudinal edges at one holder end to expose a corner of the bladeadjacent the latter holder end,

said blade holder being movable longitudinally relative to said handlebetween a retracted position of storage wherein said one holder end isretracted into the adjacent end of said handle to locate said exposedblade corner in shielded relation within said handle and extendedposition of use wherein said one holder end projects beyond saidadjacent handle end to locate said exposed blade corner externally ofsaid handle for cutting engagement with a workpiece, and

releasable latch means for positively locking said holder in retractedposition comprising laterally flexible resilient tongues on oppositesides of said holder which are biased outwardly to engage the otherhandle end and thereby prevent extension of said holder and aredepressable inwardly toward said holder to permit entrance of saidtongues with said holder into said other handle end and therebyextension of said one holder end.

2. A tool according to claim 1 wherein:

said blade holder slide comprises a U-shaped member of strip materialhaving side portions forming said slide side walls, a connecting portionforming said said slide end wall, and free end portions forming a secondblade receiving slot extending transversely of said slide for receivingin gripping relation the rib of a second razor blade in a positionwherein its cutting edge extends transversely of said holder and isexposed at the other holder end.

3. A tool according to claim 1 wherein:

said blade holder slide comprises a U-shaped member of strip materialhaving side portions forming said slide side walls and a connectingportion forming said slide end wall.

4. A tool according to claim 3 wherein:

said holder latching tongues are punched out from said slide sideportions to provide in said side portions openings into which saidtongues are depressible to permit extension of said blade holder.

I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,887,188 11/1932. Ross 30l623,171,201 3/1965 Carifi 30-162 X 3,195,231 7/1965 Lightburn 30-23,406,447 10/1968 Travlos 30l62 X ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner J.C. PETERS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 303 35

